We believe that every individual possesses an innate dignity; a capacity to overcome adversity, hardship, or missteps; and a potential for transformation that, when accompanied by motivation and effort, compels support from the community.
Guided by Values and Beliefs
The Trust is guided in all its activities and grantmaking by the following values and beliefs: Respect, Humility, Interdependence, Stewardship, and the Dignity and Potential of every individual.
Proactive and Responsive
At this time, the Trust makes grants to returning grantees and to new organizations by invitation only. However, the Trust remains interested in hearing from organizations that may be eligible for future consideration. Therefore, as of May 23, 2022, the Trust has changed its process for grantseekers. To learn more, please see Grantseekers.
Types of Organizations
Because the Trust is interested in supporting organizations that strive to achieve a lasting difference in the lives of the people they serve, most grants are awarded to organizations that provide direct services to individuals. However, acknowledging that organizations operate as a part of larger communities and systems, the Trust also supports organizations working to effect positive change at the individual, family, and community levels; and those engaged in systems and policy improvement on behalf of its focus populations.
Flexible Funding
Believing that effective organizations know best how to allocate resources, the Trust aims to provide the least restrictive funding appropriate to a grant's purpose; sometimes that is program support, and other times it is general operating support. Over 50% of the Trust’s grantmaking is for general operating support. Requests for capital support grants are considered by invitation only.
Multi-year Grants and Repeat Grants
Most first-time grants awarded by the Trust are for one year. The Trust considers multiple-year grant requests from organizations that have already successfully completed at least one grant cycle with the Trust. Multiple-year grants are generally two years in duration. Many effective and well-aligned organizations receive consecutive grants from the Trust over several years.
Stewardship
The Trust prioritizes established organizations and programs with a strong track record of measurable outcomes. The application process is thorough and extensive; Program Officers are content experts in their program areas and are responsible for conducting a thorough due diligence process, which may include multiple telephone conversations and email exchanges, before recommending a grant to the Trustees. Due to the Trust’s large geographic service area, site visits are not conducted prior to awarding a grant, but may be scheduled at a later date.
The Trust is interested in learning through its grantees’ successes as well as their challenges. Grantee reports are an important part of our learning process and our commitment to stewardship.
Type, Size, and Duration of Grants
The Trust accepts applications for either program support or general operating support (i.e., support for an organization’s operations as a whole - rather than a particular project - inclusive of expenses such as administrative staff’s salaries, overhead expenses, non-capital equipment, and capacity building activities). The Trust occasionally makes grants for capital support, typically to organizations that have received a grant in the past; such requests may only be submitted upon invitation from the Trust.
The size of a grant from the Trust is matched to the organization’s need, capabilities, opportunities, scale of impact, and the program’s fit with the Trust’s priorities, as well as the organization’s historic pattern of support from other institutional donors, its developmental stage, and the Trust’s overall availability of funds. Typically, the Trust’s grant will be average or above average among an organization’s other funders, but not the largest grant received by an organization. Consistent with its core value of interdependence and a desire to encourage organizations to develop a broad base of support, the Trust prefers to invest alongside other funders and rarely makes grants that represent 100% of a project’s budget. Please see Recent Grants for examples of typical Trust grants.
Initial grants are typically one year in duration. The Trust will consider multiple-year grant requests from organizations that have already successfully completed at least one grant cycle with the Trust. Multiple-year grants are generally two years in duration, and acknowledge the grantee organization’s well-articulated, compelling vision and long-term plan for its programs, and its strong alignment with the Trust’s Funding Priorities.